Classical Mechanics

Expected contact hours: 35

Syllabus:

1. Review of Newtonian mechanics, generalized coordinates, constraints, principle of

virtual work

2. Calculus of variation, Lagrange’s equation

3. Central forces: planetary motion, collisions and scattering

4. Oscillations: small oscillations, anharmonic oscillators, perturbation theory, forced

oscillators

5. Hamilton's Equation: principle of least action, Noether’s theorem

6. Canonical transformations: Poisson brackets

7. Hamilton-Jacobi theory: action angle variables

8. Rigid body dynamics: rotating top, precession and nutation, Euler angles

9. Equations of motion for continuous media

Special topics:

1. Nonlinear dynamics

2. Fluid dynamics: Navier-Stokes equation

Recommended textbooks:

1. Goldstein : Classical Mechanics (Addison-Wesley)

2. Rana and Joag : Classical Mechanics (Tata McGraw-Hill)
 Mathematical Methods
Expected contact hours: 35

Syllabus:

1. Vector and tensor calculus: vector space, metric, differential operators in general
coordinates, Gauss's and Stokes' theorems

2. Linear algebra: matrices as operators, diagonalization, eigenvalues, eigenvectors,

eigenfunctions

3. Series of numbers and functions: absolute, uniform and asymptotic convergence,

power series

4. Complex analysis: analyticity, Cauchy's integral theorem, Laurent expansion,

singularities, analytic continuation, calculus of residues, evaluating integrals

5. Approaches for solving linear differential equations: separation of variables, series

solutions, Green's function, Fourier and Laplace transforms

6. Sturm-Liouville theory: functions as infinite dimensional vector spaces, orthogonal

basis, eigenvalue problems

7. Special functions: generic properties in the light of Sturm-Liouville theory and

complex analysis

Special topics:

1. Introduction to Mathematica

2. Integral transforms: Fourier and Laplace transforms,

3. Essential statistics: Bayes' theorem, binomial - Poisson - Gaussian distributions, central

limit theorem, data fitting, hypothesis testing

Recommended textbooks:

1. G. Arfken & H. Weber : Mathematical Methods for Physicists (Academic)

2. J. Matthews & R. L. Walker : Mathematical Methods of Physics (Benjamin)
3. S.D.Joglekar: Mathematical Physics : Basics (Universities Press)
4. S.D.Joglekar: Mathematical Physics : Advanced Topics (Universities Press)
 Classical Electrodynamics –I
Expected hours of contact- 35

Syllabus:

1. Review of EM theory that the student is expected to know.

2. Single charged particles in E and B fields

3. Electrostatic fields, potentials, energy and forces

4. Analytical and numerical ways of solving electrostatic potential problems

5. Idealized and real charge distributions and their potentials

6. Current distributions and magnetic fields

7. Magnetic materials

8. Maxwell's equations, EM waves and their propagation in free space and in media.

9. EM waves in confined spaces

Special topics:

1. Interesting examples of 'electrodynamics in action' : accelerators, ion traps, plasmas,

biomembranes, superluminal, highly subluminal propagation, optical phenomena,
negative refractive index media etc.

Suggested textbooks:

1. W.K.H.Panofsky and M.Phillips : Classical Electricity and magnetism (Addison

Wesley)

2. W.Greiner : Classical Electrodynamics (Springer)

3. J.D. Jackson : Classical Electrodynamics (John Wiley)

 Classical Electrodynamics–II
Expected hours of contact- 35

Syllabus:

1. Special relativity and relativistic kinematics

2. Covariant (Lagrangian) formulation of electrodynamics

3. Motion of charges and electromagnetic fields: Leinard Weichert potentials

4. Charges in electromagnetic fields: radiation from an accelerated Charge,

bremsstrahlung, Cherenkov, synchrotron

5. Radiation reaction: energy loss mechanisms

6. Electromagnetic fields propagating through matter: scattering, diffraction

Special topics:

1. Plasma physics and MHD

2. Lasers and nonlinear optics, novel optical phenomena

3. Astrophysical phenomena like cosmic ray acceleration

Suggested textbooks:

1. W.K.H.Panofsky and M.Phillips : Classical Electricity and magnetism (Addison

Wesley)

2. J.D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics (John Wiley)

3. Landau & Lifshitz : Classical Theory of Fields (Elsevier Science)

 Quantum Mechanics I
Expected contact hours: 35

Syllabus:

1. Hilbert space formalism of QM: states, operators, evolution (Sakurai)

2. Schroedinger equation, wave mechanics (Cohen-Tannoudji)

3. Coherent and incoherent states, density matrix formulation of QM

4. 1-D problems, harmonic oscillator, central potentials, hydrogen atom, particle in a

uniform magnetic field (Cohen-Tannoudji, Gottfried)

5. Discrete symmetries in QM: P, T (Sakurai)

6. Properties of the wavefunction under particle interchange, Bose and Fermi statistics
(Sakurai)

7. Wavefunctions for systems with many identical particles: e.g Slater determinants of
single electron orbitals (Merzbacher)

8. General treatment of angular momentum: Clebsch-Gordan coefficients, Wigner-Eckart

theorem (Sakurai)

9. Time independent perturbation theory (Sakurai, Gottfried)

Special Topics:

1. Path integral formulation of QM (Shankar)

Recommended Textbooks:

1. J. J. Sakurai : Modern Quantum Mechanics (Addison Wesley)

2. Cohen-Tannoudji : Quantum Mechanics (John Wiley and Sons)
3. E. Merzbacher : Quantum Mechanics (John Wiley and Sons)
4. R. Shankar : Principles of Quantum Mechanics (Springer)
5. K. Gottfried and T-M Yan: Quantum Mechanics : Fundamentals (Springer)
 Quantum Mechanics II
Expected contact hours: 35

Syllabus:

1. Variational methods (Sakurai)

2. WKB approximation (Schiff, Gottfried)

3. Time dependent perturbation theory (Sakurai, Cohen-Tannoudji))

4. Scattering theory: Scattering from a central potential (Merzbacher). Scattering of two

identical paticles, Bose-Fermi statistics (Schiff)

5. Semiclassical treatment of radiation (Schiff)

Special topics:

1. Relativistic wave equations: Klein-Gordan, Dirac

2. Second quantization (Feynman's Stat Mech)

Recommended textbooks:
1. J. J. Sakurai : Modern Quantum Mechanics (Addison Wesley)
2. L. I. Schiff : Quantum Mechanics (Mcgraw-Hill)
3. Cohen-Tannoudji : Quantum Mechanics (John Wiley and Sons)
4. E. Merzbacher : Quantum Mechanics (John Wiley and Sons)
5. K. Gottfried and T-M Yan: Quantum Mechanics : Fundamentals (Springer)
 Statistical Physics
Expected hours of contact- 35

Syllabus:

1. Foundations of Statistical Physics: macroscopic vs. microscopic variables, Review of

thermodynamics; Phase space, Liouville's theorem, ergodic approach

2. Ensembles (Microcanonical, Canonical, and Grand canonical) and their equivalence,

relationship to thermodynamic potentials, susceptibility, specific heat etc.

3. Non-interacting Classical Systems: Ideal paramagnets, Classical Ideal gas

(monoatomic, diatomic, degrees of freedom), Harmonic Oscillators, black body radiation,
ideal crystals - Einstein model

4. Noninteracting Quantum Systems: Ideal quantum gases, Indistinguishability, Bose,

Fermi and Boltzmann statistics; Ideal Bose gas, Bose-Einstein condensation, liquid
helium, Ideal Fermi gas, metals, white dwarfs, Correlation functions, Virial theorem;

5. Interacting Systems: Interacting Magnetic systems, Ising model, transfer matrix,

phases, phase transitions, mean field theory, first and second order transitions, scaling,
universality, magnet--fluid analogy

6. Stochastic Processes: Random walks and Brownian motion, Langevin Equation,

Fokker-Planck Equation, Wiener Khintchine relations, Nyquist's theorem

Recommended textbooks:

1. C. Kittel and H. Kroemer : Thermal Physics (Freeman)

2. F. Reif : Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics (McGraw Hill)
3. K. Huang : Statistical Mechanics (Wiley)
4. E.M. Lifshitz and L.P. Pitaevskii,
5. Statistical Physics (Landau and Lifshitz Course) Vol. 1 (Pergamon Press)
6. M. Plischke and B. Bergersen : Equilibrium Statistical Physics (Prentice Hall)
7. S.K. Ma : Statistical Mechanics (World Scientific)
8. David L. Goodstein : States of Matter (Dover)
9. Michael E. Fisher : Lecture Notes on Scaling, Universality and Renormalization Group
Theory
 Electronics
Expected hours of contact- 35

Syllabus:

1. Network Theorems : R,C,L combinations, Ohm’s law, Kirchoff’s laws, Joule’s law,
theorems - Superposition, Thevnin’s, Norton’s, Millman’s, Reciprocity, Compensatin,
Maximum power transfer, Star-Delta transformations

2. Diodes : Thermionic diode, p-n junction, continuity equation, drift-diffusion model,

junction capacitance, alloy junctions, special purpose diodes, applications of diodes

3. Transistor : BJT- Bias modes, non-ideal effects; FET – JFET, MOSFET and their
applications including amplifier designs

4. OP-AMPs : Feedback, linear and non-linear circuits

5. Digital Electronics : Number systems, arithmetic circuits, clocks and timing circuits,
flip-flops, registers, counters, D/A and A/D converters,

Special Topics :
1. PLL and Lockin
2. Introduction to Micro-Processor
3. Principles of Modern Instruments e.g. SCA, MCA etc.
4. Transducers: Pressure, Temperature, Light, Voltage
5. PCB Design and fabrication

Recommended text books :

1. Malvino and Bates : Electronic Principles

2. Millman and Halkias : Electronic Devices and Circuits
3. Leach and Malvino : Digital Principles and Applications
4. P.S.Farago : Introduction to Linear Network Analysis
5. R.A. Gayakwad : Op-Amps and linear integrated circuits
 Introductory Course In Modern Nuclear Physics
Expected hours of contact- 35

Syllabus:

1. Nuclear Interaction Symmetry and Conservation laws , N-N interaction, quark model
of the nucleon , The meson picture, the tensor part of the n-n force and the deuteron
problem

2. Nuclear Decays: a-decay ,b-decay and rudiments of neutrino physics, EM decay and
selection rules

3. Liquid drop model, nuclear incompressibility and nuclear mass formula

4. Nuclear fission, Nuclear viscosity, Electric giant resonances in nuclei

5. Collective motion in nuclei, Bohr-Wheeler expansion for arbitrary surface, Nuclear

rotation and vibrations

6. Independent particle model, Fermi gas model, Shell model and spin-orbit splitting,
Hartree Fock equations.

7. Nuclear Reactions, Kinematics, Coulomb scattering and excitations, compound and

direct reactions, polarization scattering.

8. Nuclear Astrophysics: Energy production in stars: p-p chain and CNO cycle.

Special Topics:

1. Introduction to heavy-Ion induced high spin physics: Super and hyper deformation.

2.Rudiments of three-body force and three-body nuclear physics

3.Physics with Radioactive ion beams

4. RHIC physics

Suggested textbooks:

1. B.L. Cohen : Concepts of Nuclear Physics (Mcgraw-Hill)

2. K. Heyde : Basic Ideas And Concepts In Nuclear Physics: An Introductory Approach
(Taylor and Francis)
3. M.A. Preston & R.K. Bhaduri : Structure of the Nucleus (Westview)
4. A. Bohr & B. R. Mottelson : Nuclear Structure (World Scientific)
 Atomic and Molecular Physics
Expected hours of contact- 35

Syllabus:

1. Interaction of one-electron atoms with electromagnetic radiation.

2. One-electron atoms: fine structure, hyperfine structure and interaction with external
electric and magnetic fields.

3.Two-electron atoms: Para and ortho states, Independent particle model, Excited states
of two-electron atoms.

4 Many electron systems: Thomas-Fermi model, the Hartree-Fock method, LS- and jj-
couplings.

5.The interaction of many-electron atoms with electromagnetic fields. Selection rules,

Atoms with several optically active electrons. Zeeman effect and quadratic Stark effect.

6.Molecular structure. The Born-Oppenheimer separation for diatomic molecules,

rotation and vibration of diatomic molecules. Structure of polyatomic molecules.

7.Molecular spectra: Rotational energy levels of diatomic molecules, Vibrational-

rotational spectra, electronic spectra, Electronic spectra and Hund’s cases, Nuclear spin.

Special Topics:

1. Atomic collisions.

Suggested textbooks:

1. Brasden and Joachain : Physics of Atoms and Molecules

 Solid State Physics
Expected hours of contact- 35

Syllabus :

1. Crystal structure, symmetries, scattering, solids - crystalline, amorphous and liquid

crystals

2. Types of solids- van der Waals, covalent, ionic and metallic bonding

3. Lattice vibrations, heat capacity- Einstein and Debye models; vibrations of mono and
di-atomic lattices

4. Free electron models, electronic heat capacity and transport, Hall effect

5. Electrons in periodic potential, Bloch theorem, tight binding model

6. Semiclassical transport theory– electron motion in DC/AC fields, effective mass, holes

7. Semiconductors- basics, p-n junction

8. Superconductivity- Meissner effect, London’s equations, BCS model, Ginzburg-

Landau model, flux quantization, types of superconductors, vortex lattice

9. Magnetism- diamagnetism, paramagnetism of d and f electrons, Hund’s rules, ferro

and anti-ferromagnetism, spin glass, Heisenberg model, mean field theory, spin waves,
Pauli paramagnetism, Kondo effect

10. Ferroelectricity- basics

Special topics :
1. CMR/GMR
2. Quantum Hall effect, soft condensed matter
3. Novel materials: Nanostructures, fullerenes

Recommended Textbooks:
1. Charles Kittel : Introduction to solid state physics
2. Ashcroft & Mermin : Solid State Physics
3. Jasprit Singh : Physics of semiconductor heterostructures
 Astronomy and Astrophysics
Expected hours of contact- 35

Syllabus :
1. Physics of Stars and the Sun : Observable properties of stars, Stellar structure and
evolution, Helioseismology and solar neutrino problem, star formation

2. Physics of Galaxies : Galaxy formation and evolution, Rotation curves and dark matter
Interstellar medium

3.High Energy Astrophysics : Physics of degenerate matter and Chndrasekhar limit,

Neutron stars, white dwarfs and black holes, pulsars, quasars, and gamma-ray bursts,
Supernovae

Recommended books :

1. Dina Prialnik : An Introduction to the Theory of Stellar Structure and Evolution

2. A. Unsold and B. Baschek : The New Cosmos
3. J. Binney and M. Merrifield : Galactic Astronomy
4. Marc L. Kutner : Astronomy : A Physical Perspective
 Elementary Particle Physics
Expected contact hours: 35
Syllabus:
1. Introduction to Elementary Particles: discovery, four basic interactions, particle zoo,
classification of elementary particles, review of detector and accelerator methods.

2. Theory preliminaries: natural units, special relativity, covariant notation, relativistic

wave equations: Klein-Gordon equation, Dirac equation, plane wave solutions, spin and
helicity, chirality, projection operators, trace relations; transformation properties: Lorentz
covariance of Dirac equation, C, P and T invariance, bilinear covariants.

3. Fundamental interactions: isospin, Yukawa theory, Gamow-Teller correction, weak

interactions, Fermi theory, IVB model, parity violation, θ-τ puzzle, Cabibbo theory.

4. Quark Model: introduction to groups, Lie groups and representations, root and weight
diagrams, eightfold way, quark model, colour quantum numbers.

5. Introduction to QFT: classical fields, Lagrangian density for scalar and Dirac fields,
U(1) gauge theory, Nöther's theorem, canonical quantization of scalar, fermion and gauge
fields (Hamiltonian quantization only); QED: Interaction picture, Dyson formulation, S
matrix, Wick reduction and Feynman rules, QED Lagrangian and basic QED processes.

6. Construction of electroweak model: Gauge theories: U(1), SU(2) and SU(3) gauge
theory, spontaneous symmetry breaking, Goldstone theorem and Higgs mechanism; mass
generation, charged and neutral currents, absence of FCNC, GIM mechanism and
multiple generations, CKM matrix.

Special Topics:

1. Oscillation phenomena: neutral kaon oscillations, CP violation, Sakharov conditions,

neutrino oscillations, PMNS matrix.

2. Parton model: deep inelastic scattering, form factors and structure functions, Bjorken
scaling, experimental results, notion of QCD corrections to parton model.

Recommended Textbooks:

1. F. Halzen and A. D. Martin : Quarks and Leptons (Wiley, 1984).

2. A. Lahiri and P. B. Pal : A First Book of Quantum Field Theory (Narosa, 2001).

3. T.-P. Cheng and L.-F. Li : Gauge Theory of Elementary Particle Physics (OUP, 1984).
 Computer Programming and Numerical Methods
Expected contact hours: 35

Syllabus :

1. Computer programming in Fortran 90 (The instructor can choose the suitable

programming language depending upon the convenience of the students.)

2. Representation of numbers in computers and round-off errors

3. Linear algebraic equations: Gaussian elimination, triangular decomposition, error

analysis, singular value decomposition

4. Interpolation: polynomial interpolation, B-splines, differentiation

5. Integration: Newton-Cotes formulas, extrapolation methods, Gaussian quadrature,

improper integrals, summation, multiple integration, Monte-Carlo techniques

6. Nonlinear Algebraic equations: Bisection, fixed-point iteration, secant method,

Newton-raphson method, Brent's method, Muller method roundoff errors, solution of
system of nonlinear equations

7. Optimisation: Golden Section search, Brent's method, minimisation in several

dimensions, introduction to linear programming

8. Approximations: Least-squares approximation, Discrete Fourier transform, L1-

approximations

9. Eigenvalue problem: Power method, inverse iteration, brief outline of QR/QL

algorithm

10. Ordinary differential equations: Stability of numerical integration methods, Predictor-

Corrector methods, Runge-Kutta methods, stiff differential equations, introduction to
boundary value problems